Three Palestinians who witnessed the ‘execution' style killing of Palestinian Abd al-Fattah Yusri al-Sharif by an Israeli soldier in Hebron's old city in March gave testimonies on Wednesday in an Israeli military court in the city of Jaffa. Emad Abu Shamsiyya, an activist with Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, told Ma'an that throughout his approximately half hour-long testimony, the defense attorney of Israeli soldier Elor Azarya "tried to mislead the court by raising doubt" about his testimony. Abu Shamsiyya captured footage of the moment Azarya shot al-Sharif in the head at point-blank range, while the 21-year-old Palestinian was already lying on the ground immobilized after another soldier had shot and injured him. Al-Sharif and Ramzi Aziz al-Qasrawi, both 21, were shot and killed after allegedly stabbing an Israeli soldier in the Tel Rumeida neighborhood of Hebron's Old City March 24. The Israeli army ruled on March 31 that the Israeli soldier responsible for al-Sharif's death would be tried on charges of manslaughter, and not, as had been hoped, those of murder. Imad Jabir, who also testified on Wednesday, told Ma'an that the defendant's lawyer "tried all means for about an hour to prove that my testimony was false." Jabir said he took footage of an extremist settler Baruch Marzel shaking hands "warmly" with Azarya after the killing. The witnesses said they were taken to court in an Israeli military vehicle and saw dozens of "settlers" outside the court building showing solidarity with the soldier on trial. Just one day after the killing and release of the video, Israeli settlers had gathered outside the home of Abu Shamsiyya to hurl abuse at him. After the settlers threatened him, Abu Shamsiyya told Ma'an: "I now fear for my life and the life of my family. I'm afraid they might attack my house and do me harm." Nasr Nawaja was the third Palestinian witness to give testimony on Wednesday. Nawaja was summoned for testimony as a representative of the B'Tselem, which released footage of Azarya putting a bullet into the head of al-Sharif from point-blank range after he was shot and injured. The graphic video garnered international attention and outcry when the UN referred to it as an "extrajudicial execution," and Amnesty International called for the incident to be prosecuted as a potential war crime, saying: "The shooting of a wounded and incapacitated person, even if they have been involved in an attack, has absolutely no justification." New video footage surfaced on June 1 of an Israeli ambulance driver kicking a knife towards the body of al-Sharif. The video,obtained by Israel's Channel Two, is expected to be shown to an Israeli military court to disprove claims by the Israeli soldier who killed al-Sharif that he shot the young Palestinian point-blank in the head after al-Sharif moved to grab the knife
